Man Signs Up For His Insurance; His Dog Gets Covered Instead

Shane Smith, of Fort Collins, says his dog Baxter received a letter informing him that a health insurance account had been opened in his name through Connect for Health Colorado.

“I thought, “Wow, this is so awesome,” Smith said with a laugh. “They have gone out of their way to insure my 14-year-old Yorkie.”

Smith had called Connect for Health Colorado to sign himself up for insurance because his old plan was cancelled due to Obamacare.

He’s not sure exactly how the confirmation letter went to his dog, but he says he thinks it’s because of a series of security questions a representative asked him over the phone.

“There was some kind of code or something, so I gave them my dog’s name,” Smith said. “They must have just put it in the wrong slot or something.”

After hearing about all the headaches with Obamacare nationally, Shane says this mistake doesn’t seem so bad.

“It was pretty funny. Typical Obamacare, that they would insure your dog by mistake,” Smith said.

Smith said he was able to call and correct the mistake fairly quickly.

“They fixed it … I think they fixed it,” he said.

After having his original policy cancelled, followed by this, Smith says he won’t believe it until he sees it.

“There’s been a lot of headaches that’s come from all of this. All the phone calls. All the nonsense. They ended up giving me good coverage I think, but who knows if they’re going to take it away,” Smith said. “As long as Baxter’s covered that’s all the counts.”

Connect for Health Colorado couldn’t comment on the specific letter sent to Baxter, but a spokesperson did release this statement:

“In general, our letters to customers are generated according to information that is provided by the customer into the system either online or over the phone. In other words, our system does not make up a name when generating a letter. As with any new system, mistakes are possible and when notified by customers, we work quickly to resolve the situation.”